Seventeen-year-old Will is a local in Walfang; Gretchen is "summer people," but she's Will's best friend anyway. They used...
A dreamy, hair-raising mystery in a Long Island fishing village–cum–upscale resort evokes the traditional horrors of coastal communities.
Seventeen-year-old Will is a local in Walfang; Gretchen is "summer people," but she's Will's best friend anyway. They used to be three musketeers, along with Will's brother Tim, until a year ago when Tim died in a boating accident that should have killed both boys. Now Will and Gretchen try to renew their friendship in one of the creepiest summers either can remember. Will is drawn to Asia, a beautiful stranger with "green sea glass eyes." Gretchen worries about the local mad teenager who babbles portents about “seekriegers” and sings sea shanties. A 400-year-old gold doubloon turns up in a donation box, and an antique bone recorder—the spitting image of one found on Tim's body—appears in the local antique shop. Most frightening of all, Gretchen's sleepwalking, always worrying, has gotten downright dangerous. The more Will investigates, the more he sees connections with generations-old local mysteries—and possibly, incomprehensibly, stories far older than that. Walfang is exquisitely realized (occasionally too much so; narrative flow sometimes takes a backseat to painting Walfang with not-always-necessary detail); characters are defined as much by their place in society as by their behavior.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-375-84245-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll...
What if Bella Swan were a demigod?
Helen is the loveliest girl on Nantucket, but until the sexy Delos family comes to the island, she's always tried to stay under the radar. It's not just her looks that attract attention; Helen knows her strength, speed and hearing all approach superpower levels. But she can't stay hidden in the presence of the Delos cousins, Jason, Hector, Cassandra, Ariadne and the sexiest one, Lucas—yes, Lucas. (Some complicated handwaving explains why he is named Lucas instead of—as was intended—Paris.) Readers trained on trendy Greek mythological fantasy won't be surprised to learn both Helen and the newcomers are demigods. In their blonde beauty (really!), they look exactly like their quasi-mythological ancestors and are cursed by the Furies and the gods to replay ancient dramas across history. Lucas and Helen are both drawn together and forced apart by fate and desire. The cousins, meanwhile, help Helen develop her powerful demigod abilities while tutoring her on the massive forces arrayed against her. Though weirdly inconsistent perspective, startling shifts of voice and scenes that feel like they've been copied almost directly from Twilight break the flow, the drama's epic scale complements the love story's pacing. A refreshingly strong heroine carries readers into the setup for book two.
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll be caught up in the we-must-we-can't sexual tension. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-201199-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love.
Real sexual tension apparently requires all the divine forces in the universe be arrayed against you, if this book is any guide.
Demigods and erstwhile lovers Helen and Lucas can never be together, because they're secretly first cousins. Just in case the couple realizes that relationships between cousins aren't considered incest in their home state of Massachusetts (or 24 other states in the union), Lucas's father explains that the future of the demigod species, nay, of the entire planet depends on the couple staying apart. Because! Of history! And magical things! And could Lucas just stop being so selfish? Lucas responds by pretending to hate Helen, following the standard tortured-angsty-boy recipe for staying away from his girlfriend. Poor Helen, meanwhile, is spending all her sleeping hours traveling the Underworld. She hopes to defeat the Furies and end the senseless feuding that has tormented the semi-divine Scions since the Trojan War, but she can't seem to make any headway in the blasted hellscape of the Underworld. Not to mention, her magical journeys are keeping her from REM sleep, thus probably killing her. At least she's met a hot new Scion in the Underworld to fill the vacancy Lucas left by being such a meanie.
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: May 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-201201-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
